Day 1: MCNC, NC State’s QIC form powerful quantum collaboration
MCNC announced in September a new collaboration with the IBM Quantum Innovation Center at NC State University, bringing useful quantum computing resources to the organization’s higher education and research communities at no charge.
MCNC President and CEO Tracy Doaks called this a game changer, providing research and education institutions on MCNC’s network with complimentary access to the IBM Quantum Network to help support application development, training and education. Together, she added, this work can help solve real-world problems faster and more efficiently than may be possible with a classical computer.
“MCNC always has proactively met the technological needs for citizens in North Carolina by being a consistent leader in innovation and a catalyst for technology-based economic development,” said Doaks. “By becoming a member of the IBM Quantum Innovation Center at NC State, we will be able to help advance quantum computing and continue exploring its powerful potential as a viable platform of the future.”
What is the QIC?
The IBM Quantum Innovation Center at NC State is a center of quantum computing education, research, development, and implementation. They work directly with industry and academic members and IBM to advance quantum computing as well as interdisciplinary applied research, student development, and quantum computing curricula at NC State.
What is a Qubit?
Quantum computing is an advanced field of computer science that leverages the principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations. Unlike “classical” computers which use bits to store information as either a 0 or a 1, quantum computers use quantum bits, or Qubits. A key difference is that Qubits can exist in a superposition of both states at the same time, allowing quantum computers to process information in a fundamentally different way.
What’s Next?
“While the field is still in its early stages, with many challenges to overcome, such as error correction and maintaining a stable quantum state, quantum computing holds the promise of revolutionizing our ability to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems,” said Greg Byrd, executive director of the IBM Quantum Innovation Center at NC State. “We are excited to bring MCNC onto the IBM Quantum Network as a member of a select group of collaborators who bring unique and necessary resources to a shared mission of advancing quantum computing.”
